Hello Hive

Good morning, beloved homestead family. Hope we have been having a restful weekend so far. I had one of the most tiring weekends yesterday at the corn harvest and woke up too tired and very much late to meet up with the early morning service, which starts by 6:30 a.m. A good portion of the corn was harvested even though there is still more to go.

Today I would like to show us the method anyone can use to plant and grow Udara (the African star apple). A lot of people around here do take this fruit. Although not many are aware of its beneficial nutrients, some of the fruits can be so sweet and enticing even though they leave a sour aftertaste most times. Having the tree in our compound in the village, we are privileged to enjoy yearly harvests. That is one good thing about planting fruit trees: harvest is usually consistent.

The planting conditions/requirements are good-quality loamy soil that is well drained and in a location that is highly exposed to sunlight. If the soil is not too fertile, we can decide to use organic manure. Applying organic manure will improve the fertility of the soil, as we have enough poultry and animal droppings to use for this.

Planting: for planting Udara, you can get the seeds from within the fruits here. Which is good to be grown in a nursery first. Just the same way we grow nurseries for peppers and some other veggies. The nursery stage for Udara often lasts for about 10 months. After this period, one can then choose to transplant the seedlings to a permanent site so they can continue their growth there.

Udara takes about 7 years to reach maturity, and by then we would have started harvesting some of the fruits along the line.

I love it when we teach children to plant trees, especially beneficial trees like this. Once a child plants a tree, they both grow together, and the stress of having to wait for years before the tree produces fruit for such an individual is totally removed. Imagine an adult of 70 planting a tree that will take maybe 20 years to produce fruit; such a one may not even live to enjoy the fruit of the trees he has planted.

Growing fruit trees is a should be imbibed into people as a good habit. The trees enhance our climate situation while providing food for us alongside.